Dental age estimation methods in children based on radiograph panoramic

Objectives: Age estimation is a key point in forensics, archeology, pediatrics and pediatric dentistry. Analysis using the development of teeth is one of the available methods that are used for physical identification, as well as age, in children. This article reviewed several journals about the methods of age identification, especially in children. The purpose of this review was to briefly inform about the recent researches regarding the application of age identification methods in children by using panoramic radiography as it is the most widely used method, in the years 2020-2021. Review: This article was a narrative review. Analyzed articles were searched from the PubMed database which were published between 2020 until 2021. There were 12 journals in accordance with the inclusion criteria of age estimation method in children using panoramic radiography. Conclusion: 7 of 12 journals that met the inclusion criteria used Willems method in the researches, 5 journals used Demirjian method, 3 journals used Cameriere method, 2 journals used Nolla method. Willems method was the most used analysis for identifying age and proved to be effective for identification in various populations, such as Belgium, Caucasian, Turkish, Saudi Arabian, Kenyan, Chinese and Taiwanese.

Estimation of Dental Age by Demirjian and Willems Method in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Nepal

Introduction: Dental age estimation using orthopantomogram is very useful in pediatric dentistry, orthodontics in clinical diagnosis and treatment planning and also has forensic application. Demirjian method is widely used for age estimation and Willems method has been suggested to be accurate than Demirjian in various populations. To estimate the dental age of children in a specific population of Nepal by Demirjian and Willems method, compare them with the chronological age and assess their applicability. Materials and Method: Digital orthopantomograms of 5 to 14 years of children were used to estimate the dental age by Demirjian’s 7- teeth method and Willems method. Descriptive statistics was used and mean with standard deviation was calculated for gender and age of the samples. Paired t-test was used for comparison of chronological age with dental age. P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.Pearson correlation was used to assess the correlation between chronological and dental age in both the genders. Result: By Demirjian method, there was an underestimation of 0.276 years in males and 0.194 in females and by Willems method, 0.652 in males and 0.847 in females which were statistically significant. There was an underestimation of dental age in all the age groups except in the age group of 5,7 and 14 for Demirjian age which was statistically nonsignificant. Pearson correlation demonstrated strong positive correlation between chronological age and dental age. Conclusion: The underestimation of dental age was more by Willems method as compared to Demirjian method. There was a strong positive relationship between chronological age and dental age in both the genders. Demirjian’s 7- teeth method was more applicable as compared to Willems method when tested in selected Nepalese children population

Dental Age Estimation According to European Formula and Willems Method: Comparison Between Children With and Without Cleft Lip and Palate

Objective: To assess dental age and deviations of dental from chronological age according to the Willems and Cameriere methods (European formula) in patients with cleft lip and/or cleft palate (CL/P) and compare it with control group. Design: Retrospective cross-sectional study. Setting: Clinic of Orthodontics. Participants: Sixty-nine patients with CL/P between 6 and 15 years of age (55 with unilateral and 14 with bilateral CL/P) with 148 panoramic radiographs. The same number of radiographs was examined in the age-matched control group. Main Outcome Measures: Estimation and comparison of dental age and differences of dental from chronological age in relation to the type of cleft, sex, and age in the group of patients with and without CL/P according to Willems and Cameriere method. Results: No significant intersex and intergroup differences were found in deviations of dental from chronological age according to Cameriere method ( P > .05). Significant difference in deviation of dental from chronological age was found between the patients with and without CL/P according to Willems method ( P < .001). Conclusion: Cameriere European formula for dental age estimation, which is not influenced by sex and tooth morphology, showed similar dental development of children with and without CL/P. However, Willems method detected that deviation of dental from chronological age significantly differed between children with and without clefts.

Comparative analysis of the approach to music education in the methods of Edgar Willems and Maurice Martenot

The paper presents a comparative analysis of the Willems method and the Martenot method, bearing in mind their attitude towards music education. The richness of each method, especially when it comes to gaining practical experiences in music education, can be a very important basis for improving general music education today, as well as learning in the field of music. These methods are characterized by specific characteristics and approaches related to aspects of rhythm, melody, harmony and body movement, but also the integration of contents of other arts. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to present the specifics and advantages of both methods, based on the analysis of the way in which each of the methods is conceived - starting points, understandings of music education, theoretical foundations of both methods, phases of work and used materials, and the role and importance of teachers.

Validating dental age estimation in Kenyan black children and adolescents using the Willems method

Purpose This study aimed to validate the Willems Belgian Caucasian (Willems BC) age estimation model in a Kenyan sample, to develop and validate a Kenyan-specific (Willems KB) age estimation model and to compare the age prediction performances of both models. Methods Panoramic radiographs of 1038 (523 female, 515 male) Kenyan children without missing permanent teeth and without all permanent teeth fully developed (except third molars) were retrospectively selected. Tooth development of the seven lower-left permanent teeth was staged according to Demirjian et al. The Willems BC model, performed on a Belgian Caucasian sample and a constructed Kenyan-specific model (Willems KB) were validated on the Kenyan sample. Their age prediction performances were quantified and compared using the mean error (ME), mean absolute error (MAE) and root-mean-square error (RMSE). Results The ME with Willems BC method equalled zero. Hence, there was no systematic under- or overestimation of the age. For males and females separately, the ME with Willems BC was significantly different from zero, but negligible in magnitude (–0.04 and 0.04, respectively). Willems KB was found not to outperform Willems BC, since the MAE and RMSE were comparable (0.98 vs 0.97 and 1.31 vs 1.29, respectively). Although Willems BC resulted in a higher percentage of subjects with predicted age within a one-year difference of the true age (63.3% vs 60.4%, p=0.018), this cannot be considered as clinically relevant. Conclusion There is no reason to use a country-specific (Willems KB) model in children from Kenya instead of the original Willems (BC) model.

Accuracy assessment of dental age estimation with the Willems, Demirjian and Nolla methods in Spanish children. Comparative cross-sectional study.

Background: The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the validity and accuracy of the Willems, Demirjian and Nolla methods in predicting chronological age in a Spanish ethnicity population. Methods: A sample of 604 orthopantomographs of Spanish children aged 4 to 14 years was evaluated by two independent evaluators. Descriptive statistics were applied to calculate the chronological age and dental age, presenting the mean and standard deviation. The difference between dental age and chronological age was calculated for each method. A positive result indicated an overestimation and a negative figure indicated an underestimation. The Wilcoxon test for paired data and Spearman's correlation coefficient were applied by age groups and gender to compare the chronological age and dental age of each method (that of Willems, Demirjian and Nolla). Statistical tests were performed at a 95% confidence level. Results: The interexaminer agreement was 0.98 (p = 0.00), and the intraexaminer agreement was 0.99 (p = 0.00). The Willems method significantly overestimated the age of boys (0.35 years (0.93)) and girls (0.17 years (0.88)). The Demirjian method significantly overestimated the age of boys (0.68 years (0.95)) and girls (0.73 years (0.94)). The Nolla method significantly underestimated age in boys (0.44 years (0.93)) and girls (0.82 years (0.98)). Conclusions: In the Spanish population, the use of the Demirjian method for legal and medical purposes is frequent. This study reveals that the Willems method is more appropriate due to its greater precision in estimating dental age.